The present invention relates to container closures and, more particularly, to caps for tubes, and especially evacuated tubes.
Approximately 15 percent of the time, evacuated blood drawing tubes must be resealed for storage, centrifugation, refrigeration or freezing. In addition to blood drawing tubes, there are other tubes of various sizes commonly used in the laboratory which require closing. Three currently used methods for resealing blood drawing tubes and other tubes involve corks, plastic films and off-the-shelf closures. Corks do not form a tight seal, and since blood collection tubes come in several sizes, it is necessary to stock a variety of sizes of corks. Plastic films tear easily, shrink when frozen and are difficult to manage when it is necessary to work again with the sample in the tube. Other commercially available closures can and do pop off during centrifugation and other procedures, thereby posing a possible source of contamination which presents a danger to health care workers and other laboratory personnel.